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ACCESSION NUMBER:271917
FILE ID:POL501
DATE:03/12/93
TITLE:CLINTON SAYS U.S. MUST FACE NEW SECURITY CHALLENGES (03/12/93)
TEXT:*93031201.POL
CLINTON SAYS U.S. MUST FACE NEW SECURITY CHALLENGES
(Cites efficiency, small force effectiveness) (390)
By Alexander M. Sullivan
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- The United States cannot pretend that far-off violence has
no meaning at home, President Clinton declared March 12.
While the aggression of a Saddam Hussein or the violence of a Bosnia may not
directly threaten U.S. shores, the president said, Americans dare not
"overlook the significance" such new challenges present. "Blinders never
provide security," he said.
Clinton, making his first visit to a military installation as president,
flew to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt via helicopter to
underscore the adaptation of the U.S. armed forces to the new world
environment following the end of the Cold War.
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Marking the dimunition of the threat from the former Soviet Union, the
carrier set sail from Norfolk, Virginia March 11 without its usual
complement of submarine-hunting aircraft. Instead, it took on board a
Marine Corps contingent that would enable the vessel to take control of a
port, or distribute humanitarian supplies. Clinton's remarks to the ship's
crew, and a later address carried on the Armed Forces Radio Network, were
monitored at the White House.
"The changed security environment," Clinton asserted, "demands not less
security but a change in our security arrangements." He said the new
manning of the carrier reflects "the new challenges of the post Cold War
era," enabling it to "address new potential challenges such as evacuations,
or taking control of troubled ports."
He said the reductions in the size of the armed forces was "not down-sizing
for its own sake; it's right-sizing for security's sake." He said the
smaller size means the armed forces "operate with greater efficiency and
effectiveness."
Clinton predicted the changes in the way the Roosevelt is being manned will
prove to be a model for other parts of the military establishment, which he
said will have to be "especially mobile;" with greater air and sea-lift
capacity, "agile;" with stress on speed, maneuver and technological
superiority; "precise," to eliminate casualties from friendly fire and
accidental harm to civilians; "flexible," to cooperate with diverse
partners in different parts of the world, and "smart," with the
intelligence and communications needed for the "complex threats we face."
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